“Take Two Aspirins and Call Me in the Morning” — Part of an IPM Program for your garden

Immunity Enhancement for Tomatoes and other Night Shade Plants

 

If your tomato plant gets sick just give it an aspirin. The common aspirin tablet (uncoated, non-buffered) has been shown to create a systemic reaction in tomato plants that builds up the resistance to microbial disease. It is called an activator for local disease resistance mechanisms including systemic acquired resistance (SAR).

Common (uncoated) aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. Dissolving one tablet (approx. 350 mg) in pure water and then applying it to the leaves of your tomato plants (as a foliar application) will trigger a systemic acquired resistance (SAR) which tells the tomato that something is attacking it and it needs to build its immune defenses. Since you are applying this to the plant before the microbes are attacking, the plants are ready to better defend themselves. Think of it as a vaccine for tomato plants.

This application seems to work best when applied approximately every two weeks.

This can also be applied to the roots of plants but double the quantity. “Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.”

 

References:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23653630/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19400653/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32544865/

https://thescientificgardener.com/aspirin-tomato-plants